The Duration of Protection Conferred by Garlic on African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) Against Aeromonas hydrophila

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of dietary doses of garlic (Allium sativum) peels and cloves in growth performance, disease resistance and the duration of protection to African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) juvenile against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. African catfish juvenile was fed twice daily for 4 weeks with commercial catfish diet (Control) and 20 gkg-1 of garlic peels and cloves which incorporated into the fish formulated diet. After 4 weeks of post feeding, 15 fish were randomly selected for challenge test with 108 cell/mL of A. hydrophila and fed control diet. The duration of the protection was observed at 7, 14 and 21 days following infection. The result demonstrated that the duration of protection of garlic toward African catfish against A. hydrophila at 7, 14 and 21 days after stopped feeding with garlic inclusion diet provided protection until 14 days and slightly reduced protection after 21 days. However, the survivals of treatment groups were still higher compared to the control group. The results indicated that garlic cloves showed better performance in enhancing the African catfish disease resistant towards infection by A. hydrophila.